The unemployment problem is expected to increase next month, with a higher jobless rate, increasing hidden unemployment and deteriorating work environment, even though last month’s unemployment rate was just below 6 percent, experts said.
Council of Labor Affairs Minister Jennifer Wang (王如玄) set a goal at the beginning of the year to keep this year’s average unemployment rate below 4.5 percent.
Labor activists were critical, saying conditions would not improve as fast as officials were hoping and the government was not being realistic.
“The job outlook is not very good for the coming year,” said Son Yu-lian (孫友聯), secretary-general of the Taiwan Labour Front. “Expecting to keep the year’s unemployment rate below 4.5 percent is too optimistic.”
The unemployment rate was expected to be at least 5.5 percent this year and next month’s jobless rate will most likely exceed 6 percent because the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said last month’s jobless rate was 5.94 percent, Son said.
Aside from increasing numbers of unemployed, there has also been a steep climb in the number of people not participating in the workforce, he said.
This shows that many workers are gradually leaving the job market and part of the working population are becoming non-workers, he said. These may include people who have given up looking for jobs, new graduates who choose to seek higher education because they cannot find jobs and women who become full-time housewives because of scarce job opportunities.
Kenneth Lin (林向愷), an economics professor at National Taiwan University, said that as labor supply continues to exceed demand, it can be expected that working conditions would deteriorate.
Employers still receive applications even if they have dramatically lowered salaries and compensation packages, since many jobseekers have lowered their standards because jobs are at an all-time low.
Democratic Progressive Party legislators said last week that the jobless numbers were being manipulated by the government, which counts people who work at least one hour a week as employed.
Such workers do not earn enough money to support themselves and their families, Lin said.
“More people are willing to take jobs that they would not have considered before,” he said, because they can no longer expect the conditions and opportunities that were available before the economic downturn.
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
RSS